New York City Street Homelessness Rises 6%

The number of homeless people living in New York City public spaces increased 6% in 2014 compared with 2013, according to records released Friday by Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration.

An estimated 3,357 people were living on the streets, in city parks and other areas during an annual survey conducted in January, marking an increase of 177 people from January 2013. This year’s estimate showed 1,808 people living in subways, a 2% decrease from the year before.

Unsheltered homelessness rose the most in Queens, surging 158%, and on Staten Island, rising 43%, records show. In Manhattan, the borough with the most street homelessness, there was a 13% increase. In the Bronx, unsheltered homelessness grew 17%, and in Brooklyn it declined 29%.

The latest data on unsheltered homelessness comes as New York City faces an unprecedented number of people sleeping each night in city shelters. As of Wednesday, there were more than 53,000 people in a city shelter, including more than 23,000 children, records show.

City officials said the ratio of unsheltered homeless people to the city’s total population – 1 in 2,504 – remains one of the lowest of any major city in the country. But in New York City, through the aggressive work of advocates for the homeless, the city is required by law to offer shelter to the homeless.

This annual survey of unsheltered homeless is required by the federal government and conducted in New York City each year on the last Monday in January.

Street homelessness in the five boroughs has decreased 24% since 2005, but subway homelessness has more than doubled in the same period. To combat the problem on the subways, Mr. de Blasio’s administration and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority agreed to co-fund a $6 million expanded outreach program beginning next month.

Gilbert Taylor, commissioner of the city’s Department of Homeless Services, said his agency is working aggressively on new measures to address the issue and plans to work with the MTA to focus on subway outreach.

At a City Council hearing on Friday, several council members urged Mr. de Blasio’s budget director, Dean Fuleihan, to increase city resources to prevent homelessness. Mr. de Blasio pledged during the campaign and since he has taken office to make reducing homelessness a top priority, but some advocates and elected officials have said they don’t believe the administration is doing enough.

Earlier this week, the administration said it will dedicate 750 apartments each year in public housing to families in the city’s shelter system, a number much lower than advocates and some elected officials requested. The city is currently seeking permission from the state to move forward with two initiatives that will provide rental assistance to help families move out of shelters.